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Online GIS

for Local Government


How to make your web maps work harder
for colleagues, clients, and communities.
Online GIS for Local Government
Published by MangoMap Limited

Bristol, United Kingdom

www.mangomap.com

© 2017 MangoMap Limited. All rights reserved.


Are Your Local
Government Web
Maps Passed Their
Expiry Date?
Difficult to update. Temperamental. Dated.
Not mobile friendly. Sound familiar?
If so, Mango will be a breath of fresh air, we give you everything you
need to quickly and easily move your web maps to a modern cloud based
system that your users and GIS team will love.

To help you get started we’ve put together this book to help you un-
derstand the key benefits of a modern Online GIS, show you how other
counties are already getting a head start with Mango, and give you some
practical ideas on how to put together fantastic looking web maps.

So, without further ado, please read on to find out more!


Contents
Online GIS for Local Government 8
Cloud Mapping for Counties...................................................................................................................................... 9

In focus: Why Local Government is Moving to Mango.......................................................................................16

Case Studies 21
Columbus County, NC................................................................................................................................................21

Plumas County, CA....................................................................................................................................................26

How to Create the Ultimate Land Records Map 30

Best Practices: ​A Guide to Online GIS for Local Government 40


Webmap Portals Must Die.........................................................................................................................................41

Don’t Make Your Web Map Look Like a GIS...........................................................................................................43

5 Common WebMap Design Mistakes to Avoid...................................................................................................46

5 Things GIS Pros should Consider When Building a Web GIS .......................................................................52

Integrating with Mango 58


Integrating with Your Desktop GIS.........................................................................................................................59

Integrate Mango with Information Stored in a CMS..........................................................................................63

Increasing Visibility & Tracking User Statistics 68


Increase the Visibility of Your Web Map................................................................................................................69

Webmap Analytics...................................................................................................................................................... 78

The #1 Web GIS Choice for Local Government 84


Mango vs. ArcGIS Online...........................................................................................................................................85

Mango vs. ArcGIS Enterprise (Server)....................................................................................................................86

Mango vs. diy............................................................................................................................................................... 87


Online GIS for Local
Government

8
CLOUD MAPPING
FOR COUNTIES
The paradigm shift to cloud
based computing is driving one
of the most transformational
periods in history for business
and government.

Cloud mapping is driving


enormous change in the way
local government communicates
with residents and business.

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Just over decade ago, Google introduced the world to a new way to
discover, search, and interact with our own communities via online street
maps and satellite imagery in Google Maps. It cleared a path forward for
the application of GIS via simplicity and accessibility.

Legacy mapping systems in use across


the US have reached a point where they’re
more burden than benefit. A glance across
the applications being served today and
you’ll find ancient bespoke applications with
long expired support agreements which are
expensive and specialized to maintain – if they
can be maintained at all. They’re opaque and
maze-like, and all too often these systems
fail to deliver the most important element:
delivering answers. They exclude the public
through technical language and byzantine
processes familiar only to GIS professionals.

Democratizing local mapping requires a high level of usability and ac-


cessibility – users demand always-on services, instant access, on any
device. Sounds complex, and complexity means cost – but it doesn’t
have to be that way.

REIGNING IN COSTS
In an economy where the purse strings are forever tightening, physical
on-site setups are no longer feasible, nor necessary. Suggesting an
in-house server setup in a small government agency today would probably
have your colleagues reaching for the straight jacket.

Supposing you have the expertise on hand, you’ve got to establish your
needs, procure appropriate hardware, procure software with complex
pricing and licensing restrictions, setup dedicated network infrastructure,
and configure dozens of applications. You need physical space, cooling,
and you’ve got to keep it running 24/7 with fallback UPS’s. And then,
you’ve got to back it all up, regularly.

Existing systems are equally problematic and expensive to maintain. Your


IT staff (pro tip: for most small local government offices, that’s you, and
when that on-site server inevitably goes down, Murphy’s law says you’ll
be on a beach with your family) will need to be continually maintaining
on-site infrastructure, and in the case of hardware failure, replacing and

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re-configuring. Specialist equipment may also need contract staff to deal
with configuration and repairs.

When your installation reaches it’s maximum workload, scaling on-site


servers is a new procurement - not something that can be initiated in
minutes.

INSTANT IMPLEMENTATION
The idea of “moving to the cloud” has become so ubiquitous that it’s
almost cliche. We all know it’s probably the right thing to do, so let’s look
at some tangible benefits that counties and townships can deliver to
constituents and local business right now.

Cloud implementations benefit


from drastically faster roll-outs.
Web GIS platforms like Mango
have the infrastructure already
worked out, so you can dive
straight into into creating map
applications. Open up a browser
and you’re ready to go.

You can have a suite of maps


styled and published along with
an open data portal of public datasets up and running in just days, and
all without writing a single line of code.

Even without dedicated GIS team, data rich visualizations with ready
made customer queries can be configured easily. Mango offers a simple
interface for visualizing and styling datasets, what-you-see-is-what-you-
get editing panels for enriching maps with complementary images, video,
or instructions, and targeted tools that let users dig deep for answers.

Mango is an innovative cloud platform that incorporates mobile, social


and analytics technologies ensuring your reach is maximized and you
can leverage data to continually improve the services you offer.

Cloud mapping is surprisingly cost-effective, but it’s primary differentia-


tion is simplicity. Initial setup costs are next to nothing – not to mention
life-time costs.

Mango offers a straightforward pricing model that means you always

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know what you’ll pay. No calculators, no credits, no complex licenses,
and no unexpected surprises on your invoice. It’s also extremely flexible.
Need more storage? Click to upgrade, and keep on working.

Expenditure on hardware, utilities and IT labor will be greatly reduced.


Switching to cloud mapping frees your IT team from dealing with data
storage and server management, and allows them to focus on other
priorities, and opportunities for cost savings throughout the county.

Information security and compliance is a critical ingredient, and most


counties will find that the infrastructure behind services like Mango offer
increased security when compared to self-managed on-site solutions,
and adhere to dozens of compliance programs including PCI and ISO.

COMMUNITY BENEFITS
A web GIS platform is easier to implement, easier to maintain, and most
importantly, provides efficiencies that legacy systems simply can’t.

Systems that make updating dataset and maps a laborious prospect


belong in the past. Now, with tools like data synchronization, your maps
can be kept updated near-real-time with workflows that integrate seam-
lessly into existing practices. Your road works crew can be providing
on-the-ground repair information that updates public maps on the hour.

Cloud based mapping means delivering maps that enhance civic en-
gagement and helps local business, but it doesn’t have to mean high
level of cost. Counties are ideally placed to recoup the benefits of cloud
mapping with surprisingly low barriers to entry.

One of the greatest problems with old models of service delivery is the
slow entropic march of bureaucracy. Lines and request forms really can
be a thing of the past. New models of service delivery such as cloud based
mapping are unlocking citizen participation and satisfaction.

Static mapping is dead – at least in the traditional sense. Locking up


maps in paper in offices means the burden on county offices to provide
services remains.

We can remove inefficiencies of hand processing requests for GIS maps


by empowering citizens to find their own answers, and generate relevant,
localized maps for printing – on-demand – with whatever data layers they
need. Goodbye GIS map request inbox.

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When it’s so simple to publish land and parcel maps to make them easily
accessible to the public for viewing and downloading, the question isn’t
why, but why not?

Mango works with counties that have a genuine commitment to deliver


meaningful differences in local communities, and they’re seeing amazing
results from serving their community data through simple, targeted cloud
map applications.

With an online parcel mapping,


Joe Appraiser visits a plot of
land, opens a flood map on his
mobile, geolocates himself, and
generates a localized map of the
1 in 100 year flood hazards within
or near the property to include
in his appraisal report. Joe can
also view deeds and property
tax history with bi-directional
links between maps and county
databases.

SWITCHING MAKES SENSE


To a large extent, the public knows how to extract answers from maps
already–they’re answering questions every day about their world–so
it’s our job to simply give them access to a greater breadth of data and
provide simple but effective tools that can extract answers. Tools that let
them keep abreast of their community: hazards, disaster recovery efforts,
public health inspection reports, pothole repairs or street closures.

They need maps that allow them to query data and drill down to find highly
relevant answers. Mango’s cloud mapping platform for local government
can deliver those answers, and deliver counties significant cost savings
in the process.

The public are engaging with maps at a level and complexity not seen
before. That endless supply of data in everyone’s pocket is slowly but
surely eroding the barriers of specialized technical systems and enabling
democratic access.

Those barriers still exist, and they’re rooted in the old systems sitting on
servers in local government offices across the country.

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“Mango is a great out-of-the-box product that
will allow you to get a professional product
with minimal outlay of time and money.”

— CHARLEVOIX COUNTY, MICHIGAN

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IN FOCUS: WHY
LOCAL GOVERNMENT
IS MOVING TO MANGO
Let’s face it: GIS is a complex beast,
but empowering citizens and local
business with the insights locked
inside geospatial data doesn’t have
to be rocket science.

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Until now, web GIS viewers have been designed with the GIS professional
in mind — not the end users of web maps. They’re clunky, ugly, confusing
for the lay-user and simply don’t work on all browsers. Mobile? Forget it.

They run on expensive proprietary systems with overheads that would


make the captain of a Spanish Armada ship blush, require extensive
programming knowledge to code and deploy, or require users to download
yet another update (looking at you, Java),

or Flash,

or *shudders*

Silverlight.

We built Mango to be the antidote to all that’s wrong with online GIS.

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5 Reasons Why Counties and
Townships are Moving to Mango

1. YOU’RE IN CONTROL

Mango is more than just a web map viewer; it’s an online portal for all your
county’s maps and public datasets. Mango integrates into your existing
website with ease with custom domain control, and a ready made portal
for your public maps and data.

You don’t need consultants to create and host your maps, or pay them
each time you need to update your data. Your data remains in your hands.

2. YOUR MAPS ARE ACCESSIBLE


ANYWHERE, ANY TIME—ON ANY DEVICE
A recent Accenture survey revealed two-thirds of US citizens want
increased digital interaction with their government; a third want access
to government services on their terms — that means whenever they need
it, and on whatever device they have in their hand.

Mango just works. Everywhere. Any device, any platform. Even IE6.

OK, not IE6.

3. IT’S POWERFUL

Mango works with your existing data, in all the major geospatial file
formats:

YY Shapefile YY CSV YY KML YY TAB

YY FileGDB YY GeoJSON YY GeoTIFF YY WMS

Once uploaded, your data is ready to style with one-click visualization,


custom symbology, easy labelling, customizable feature popups, and more.

Mango's powerful GIS analysis tools can be configured through simple


wizards.

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For your map users, an intuitive, familiar interface bridges the gap for
those who aren’t familiar with GIS-speak.

From simple tax parcel lookups, performing calculations using your data’s
attributes, or extracting deeper insights through proximity analysis, Mango
is made for rapid information gathering and decision making.

4. NO CODING, NO SERVERS,
NO COMPLEX LICENSING
“In one hour last night I managed to achieve things I have been attempting
on and off via Carto, fusion tables and custom JavaScript for over a year.”

Mango is easy. Our customers tell us this every day.

Build maps on desktop or laptops, using any browser—Mango lets you


work fast, wherever you are.

Cloud-based and built on a powerful open source technology stack, means


no coding, no servers to maintain, no complex licenses, credits, or layer
limits. Just rapid development, instant deployment, and maps that work
on any device, with powerful GIS tools baked right in, and no headaches.

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5. FLAT RATE PRICING = NO SURPRISES.

No view limits, no layer limits, no credits to renew.

Pound for pound, Mango does more for less. Check the competition.

Simplify your budget: flat rate pricing means you know exactly what you’ll
pay every month — or year, if you’d like a 20% discount.

The end of the 2015/16 fiscal year is fast approaching — will you continue
to serve your county’s GIS data on a platform that makes it hard for
citizens to find what they’re looking for? Migrating to Mango takes most
of our local government customers a week, so now is your opportunity
to unburden yourself from complex tools and unnecessary expense and
move to Mango.

“Mango was the one company we


researched that met all of our
expectations for a fraction of the
cost other vendors were charging.”

—PLUMAS COUNTY, CALIFORNIA

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Case Studies

COLUMBUS COUNTY, NC
THE NORTH CAROLINA COUNTY
WEB MAP PORTAL WITH OVER
17,000 VISITORS PER MONTH

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Columbus County in North Carolina is the third largest county in the
state, home to nearly 60,000 residents. Services are provided to citizens
of the county across a variety of departments from Emergency Services
to Animal control. The county maintains a wide range of geographic
information to support delivery of these services and provided access
to information to citizens and the private sector.

Like many counties, Columbus has been using GIS for many years,
preparing maps and reports to those requesting them, using desktop
software and databases to store and manage the information.

The information in these databases changes daily, whether it be the


record of deed transfer on a property or the re-surfacing of a section of
road maintained by the county. Making sure everybody has access to the
latest information is crucial for functions including asset management,
tax assessment and planning to name a few.

The challenge therefore, was how to deliver such information to end


users via the internet, tapping into existing systems and databases in a
secure, easily maintained manner?

ENTER MANGO.

Alan James from the County’s Management Information Department led


the search for a Web GIS that provides such functionality and deliver the
benefits of open, accessible information.

The county was seeking to replace an older server based system that
according to Alan was antiquated, expensive to maintain and lacked
the functionality of more modern systems such as support for modern
browsers, support for mobile devices and the assurance of availability
in the Cloud.

Experienced with traditional desktop GIS software, Alan cites the “sim-
plicity, ease of use and short learning curve” as key reasons he initially
was drawn to Mango.

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Working with various departments Alan was able to develop around a
dozen thematic maps, each focused on a particular service area from
Land Records to Flood Mapping to School Districts.

Gaining early traction and support by other departments for the maps
Alan was able to deploy the map portal and make it accessible on the
county’s website.

And due to the attractive pricing, he was able allocate existing budget
and deploy the system without having to get high level approval or wait
for the next budget cycle.

In addition to uploading and publishing their own GIS data, Columbus


county was also able to tap into other systems and integrate the content
in the maps. For example, they were able to add current, high resolution
aerial photography from the “NC OneMap” initiative as a WMS layer. This
gives users a birds-eye view of what going on “on the ground” across
public and private land.

Another example is linking to documents from the County’s other


databases, including electronic copies of tax statements, deeds and
property cards – all in the one place!

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A CUSTOMER OF MANGO FOR
OVER THREE YEARS NOW, THE
PROOF OF SUCCESS, AS THEY
SAY, IS IN THE PUDDING!

The Columbus county’s Web Map portal has been a huge success, with
over 17,000 views a month, coming from citizens, county staff, appraisers
to name a few.

County webmap and Portal view stats for Columbus County, NC

And Columbus County is not stopping there.

With the ever increasing demand to map-linked information, the county is


looking at deeper integration of Mango into their property parcel database
to allow users browsing the conventional database to view that record
on a map. And you can expect to see more tweaks and improvements
to come!

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“What immediately impressed me was
how quickly I was able to upload data
and get a useful map published. Other
products I tried required more time in
the learning curve than I could afford.”

— ALAN JAMES. DIRECTOR, MANAGEMENT INFORMATION


SYSTEMS, COLUMBUS COUNTY, NC

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PLUMAS COUNTY, CA
Mango is “Easy To Use”, and
“Extremely Cost Effective”

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Over a year ago, Plumas County’s GIS division was actively looking to
replace our public-facing Internet mapping platform that was out-of-
date and did not have the county’s desired functionality requirements
and operational goals.

We needed to find a replacement product that utilized the existing county


data, securely stored that data, and included the capability to group data
into thematic groups for navigation and display without the use of a
dedicated server. We also desired a system architecture that would allow
individual county administrators to be able to quickly and easily update
GIS layers and datasets as a map web service.

Mango was the one company we researched that met all of our expec-
tations for a fraction of the cost other vendors were charging. Mango’s
interface is intuitive, easy-to-use, and extremely cost effective.

We are able to produce a variety of different maps easily without having


to write any complex code or hosting servers. Not only is our online GIS
data more manageable, comprehensive, and accessible....it is easier to
share. Since implementing Mango into our GIS department’s website, we
went from “basic and boring”... to “WOW!”

The old saying, ‘A picture’s worth a thousand words’ – is so true with

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“Since implementing Mango into our
GIS department’s website, we went
from ‘basic and boring’... to ‘WOW!’”

— BECKY OSBORN, GIS PLANNER, PLUMAS COUNTY, CA

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Mango’s mapping application. Our users can zoom in to look at a property
or query the land use. Having a picture of what’s on the land helps clarify
and support the descriptions and Mango’s visualization tools are simply
superb.

Our users get the complete picture of what’s out there in our county.
Different departments within our county system are using Mango to
evaluate data for a variety of uses and to assist in part of their deci-
sion-making process.

Different mapping tools within the platform allow users to perform spatial
relationships, search and query attributes, download data, and many more.
We also have received positive feedback from the public and commercial
users.

From the start, Mango made it


effortless for us.
They exemplify customer service. It is a genuine pleasure to work with
professionals who are progressive in their fields and take their work
seriously.

I encourage anyone contemplating either a new or upgraded mapping


interface or for those who wish to publish their GIS data on the Internet
at a low cost (that includes a constant expanding array of functionality),
to give Mango a try!

—Becky Osborn, GIS Planner, Plumas County, California

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How to Create
the Ultimate Land
Records Map
The land record map is by far the most heavily
accessed map in a city or county web map portal
and in this chapter I’m going to be showing you
the elements that make up a superb interactive
land record map.

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Through my work at Mango I’ve created dozens of land parcel maps and
viewed countless more from counties and cities across the country using
our web GIS. Some get it right, but many don’t. Following the steps in this
video will allow you to be one of the ones that get it right.

You might have been making maps for years, but often these maps were
either for your own use or only shared with a small knowledgeable group
within your organization. I know that the thought of opening up our work
to the entire internet can be a little daunting to say the least. But fear not,
if you follow the simple steps in this tutorial you will have a land records
map that residents, assessors and appraisers will love.

The first step in getting it right is a shift in perspective. One of the biggest
mistakes in design is to assume that everyone else
sees the world in the same way we do, but if we take
a step back and look at the application from the
point of view of our users it’s easy to make design
decisions that work.

Really we only need to know two things about our


users. Who are they? And, what do they want to do?
It’s our job to take them from point A to point B in
the smoothest way possible.

So let’s jump straight in and look the core elements


of any land record map.

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MAKE YOUR PARCEL
LAYER STAND OUT
Of course the most important element of any land parcel map will be the
land parcel layer so we will start with that.

An orange outline with no fill has become the defacto standard for parcel
boundaries which as of course the most important layer on a land records
map.

On a desktop GIS we often aren’t using a base map, so any dark color will
offer good contrast, but your web map users will demand a base map
below your data in order to give them context.

The base maps will either be a street map or a satellite map and this
makes an orange outline ideal because it gives good definition for both.
Especially the imagery which for most places outside of Nevada and
Arizona will be predominately green.

GIVE THE USER CONTEXT


We would all love our map users to use our carefully crafted search tools,
but the reality is that most users will just drag and zoom their way to their
area of interest. This means we need to give them as much context as
possible.

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BASE MAP

The first consideration is a base map layer. A hybrid view that has the
road and neighborhood names above satellite imagery is a good default
choice, but it’s also important to allow users to switch the base map so
more advanced users can choose the basemap that’s best suited to their
specific requirements.

AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHY

If you have access to recent aerial imagery you should also consider using
this as the base imagery provided by companies such as Bing may not
be as up to date and will offer lower levels of detail. These should either
be uploaded to your web mapping system or better yet added as a WMS
map service in order to avoid having to do large uploads.

GOOGLE STREET VIEW

Another nice feature for adding context is integration with Google Street
View. This allows users to click on a place on the map and then explore
as if they were walking along the street rather than looking at it from
above. This is especially beneficial for appraisers looking to gain a greater
understanding of the area.

INFORMATION SIDEBAR

From experience you will have a feel for the technical ability of your user
base; if the technical ability is generally low then it can be a good idea
to include a side panel on the map with instructions explaining how the
system is intended to be used.

Alternatively you could also include a help link in the title bar that opens
a popup with instructions.

PARCEL LABELS

Lastly, add labels to your parcel layer. Preferably this will be the APN
(Assessor’s Parcel Number) as this will make it easy for users to find
multiple closely located parcels from a list.

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MAKE THE POPUP WINDOWS POP
A common mistake on land parcels maps is to pay little attention to the
popup that’s displayed when a parcel is clicked. We see too many maps
that is just a dump of all the attribute values for that parcel in no particular
order and containing some attributes that are of no use to the end user.

A good practice is to make the title


of the popup window either the APN
or the property address.

The body of the popup should then


contain only the information that
the end user needs to see, formated
in an easy to read manner. If your
data contains links or images these
should be displayed as such. For
example a photo of the property.
If imagery exists in your data, you should be displaying it.

A very important feature is a link from the parcel popup to any other
web based systems that contain information for the parcel such as the
register of deeds, property cards or tax statements.

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A best practice is to also have a link from these external information
systems back to the parcel on the map, this means the user can navigate
seamlessly from one to the other and back again.

Popups can also benefit from videos and charts providing your data
contains suitable information for these.

Charts using attribute values add a secondary layer of insight.

PROVIDE TOOLS TO
SIMPLIFY WORKFLOWS
Your parcel map will be used by a wide range of people. Some will be
residents looking for information but others such as appraisers will be
power users that are interacting with the system on a daily basis.

It’s important to strike a balance in which the system is simple to use


for new users such as residents but also efficient to use for power users
such as appraisers.

So rather than just adding every tool we can we should think about how
the map is commonly used and how to streamline that process.

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The most common workflow will be to search for an address or APN, view
the parcel information in the popup and then do a print.

To simplify this process we should have a single Google style search


box that allows search using a partial piece of text, either the address
or APN number.

Familiar, predictive search functionality is critical to data discovery.

What we want to avoid is


a GIS style search system
with a form where users
enter values into fields,
as this type of search is
unnatural to most web
users and they also tend
to be quite unforgiving
in terms of the matches
returned.

Once the user click on


the result they should
be taken to the parcel on
the map, have the parcel
highlighted and the
popup window with the
parcel data displayed. The
user can then choose to
either make notes of the
information, print the map or follow the links to external system such as
the register of deeds, property cards or tax information.

PROVIDE SUPPLEMENTAL
LAYERS
You parcel map should provide supplemental layers that add something
to the workflows rather than distract from them.

For example layers such as roads which are already contained in the base
map or parcel centroids which don’t provide any additional information
should be avoided, whilst layers such as building footprints or recent
aerial imagery will add to the experience and complement the parcel data.

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INTEGRATE YOUR PARCEL
MAP WITH YOUR MAP PORTAL,
WEBSITE, AND BRAND

You might not think that as a branch of government that you have a
brand, but you do. A brand isn’t just about advertising, it’s about trust
and authority.

When your users are viewing the map how to they know it’s authoritative?
How do they know the information is from a trusted source? Remember
that the vast majority of the users of your map will have entered the map
from Google rather than link on your City or County website.

ADD YOUR LOGO

A logo lets users know who published the map. Ensure your residents
know their local government is working hard to provide valuable services.

MATCH THE COLOR SCHEME


WITH YOUR WEBSITE
Branding is about consistency; your users should feel a consistency
when navigating between your website and your maps. Therefore it’s
important to have a consistent color scheme across both your website
and your map pages so the users feel they’ve entered another section
of your site rather than left your site a entered another one.

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NAVIGATION BETWEEN YOUR
MAP AND WEBSITE

Navigation should be two way, your users should be able to navigate from
your main website to the map and from the map back to your website.
This kind of cross linking builds trust and provides users with a seamless
experience.

Users should also be able to navigate easily between your other published
maps.

USE YOUR OWN DOMAIN NAME

The gold standard for trust is to use your own domain name. Anyone can
create a map and put your logo and color scheme in place but by seeing
your domain name your users are certain of the source.

Too many Cities and Counties using cloud based mapping systems
continue to use the domain name of the cloud map provider rather than
their own which causes many users to question the authority of the
source.

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MAKE YOUR MAP SEARCH
ENGINE FRIENDLY
Google doesn’t magically know what a webpage is about, it uses text to
figure out what “keywords” a page is relevant to and as our data at Mango
shows us that the majority of map visitors arrive from Google rather than
the client’s main website, pleasing the Google Gods is important.

A web map usually contains very little text so we must ensure that the
limited text we do have control over is put to good use, that means it
should be descriptive. Here’s an example of a bad map title:

Parcel Map

Where is this map? Who is it for? This is much better:

Parcel Lookup Map for Plumas County, CA

Better yet, we can add a description to double down on


our main keywords and descriptiveness - what can this
map do for Joe Public?

Search for parcels in Plumas County, CA and access


deeds, property cards and tax records.

Now if someone searches for “Plumas County tax records”


or “Plumas County parcel map” your site will likely be
discovered.

Too many Cities and Counties underestimate the


importance of Google as an access point to their
content, but the reality is that if your maps aren’t dis-
coverable in Google they will receive at least half as
many visitors and therefore provide half the return on
your investment.

SUMMARY

As you can see, when it comes to producing a high quality parcel map
there’s a lot more to think about than simply uploading your parcel data
and putting it online. For your map to maximize its potential you need to
cover all the bases, luckily if you follow most of the instructions in this
chapter, you should hit the mark.

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Best Practices: ​A
Guide to Online GIS for
Local Government

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Best Practice #1:

WEBMAP PORTALS
MUST DIE
Web map portals weren’t invented because they were a sensible
design decision, they were invented to reduce cost.

Building web maps wasn’t always as straightforward as it is today. In


fact, you don’t need a very long memory at all to remember a time when
it was normal for web map deployments to cost tens or even in some
cases hundreds of thousands of dollars.

With prices like that it’s not surprising that clients wanted to get the
maximum bang for their buck by trying to cram as much map data as
possible into a single web map deployment.

These map portals—as


they were known—were a
disaster from a usability
perspective. They weren’t
trying to tell the story of
the data they contained
in a unique and focused
way that would present
the user with focused and
productive experience.

In reality, they were really nothing more than a data dump which left the
user the task of wading through the data in an attempt to make sense
of it all.

Fast forward to the present day, and we now live in a time where, thanks
to the fantastic work of the opensource GIS community and massive
advances in cloud computing, we have web map publication platforms
that allow anyone with a web browser and some data to put together
a web map in a matter of hours.

The cost of web map deployments have dropped to a point where the
case for web map portals that revolves around cost saving is no longer
valid and now they must die.

41
Web maps free from the constraints of price and complexity can be super
targeted in terms of data, users, scope and length of relevance. In days
gone by the idea of making a map that will only be relevant for a few days,
or only shared with a handful of people would have been completely
unthinkable. Now, it’s a reality and we need to change our behaviour as
mapmakers to match that reality.

The map below is the opposite to a map portal. It’s laser focused, and lets
the user know immediately what they are looking at and the story that
the map wants to tell. Notice that the map doesn’t include anything that
doesn’t need to be there. There are no supplemental layers to be toggled
on and off, and no tools that don’t make sense in the context of the map.

Next time you are building a web map and consider adding another layer,
ask yourself this: Is this layer going to add to the story, or just be an
unnecessary distraction?

42
Best Practice #2:

DON’T MAKE YOUR WEB


MAP LOOK LIKE A GIS
The most common mistake in design is to assume that the users of
your design see the world in the same way as you.

The majority of web map deployments are overseen by someone with a


strong background in GIS, therefore it’s not surprising that the interface
of web maps starts to look like that of a desktop GIS.

Does your web map tool bar look like this?

Does your web map have lots of layers than can be turned on and off
using a check box like this?

Does your web map not have a clearly visible title?

If the answer is yes to all (or some) of these three questions then the

43
design inspiration for the web map has come from desktop GIS and this
is usually a colossal mistake.

WHY?

When a GIS user interacts with


a map it looks like this:

When a Joe Blogs interacts with


a map it looks like this:

44
Unless we’re creating a web map that’s
targeting users of desktop GIS, then we
should avoid trying to imitate GIS systems.

Instead, we need to take our


design cues from systems that
will be familiar to our users.

45
BEST PRACTICE #�:

5 COMMON WEBMAP
DESIGN MISTAKES
TO AVOID
As most of us are already aware, the days of sharing maps via PDF or
zipped shapefiles are numbered. Interactive web maps are now the
method of choice when it comes to publishing and sharing Geodata.

If you’re not designing web maps already, it’s only a matter of time before
you will be, so we’ve prepared this short list of the most common web
map design mistakes you need to avoid.

46
1. MAKING MAPS THAT AREN’T
VISUALLY ENGAGING
The internet is the home of the limited attention span. When making
desktop maps you’re usually assured of a captive audience but for web
maps nothing could be further from the truth.

Your web map will be competing with a host of other open browser tabs
all containing colourful and engaging websites that are vying for your
users attention.

Your web map needs to be able to stand shoulder to shoulder with those
distractions by using the same tactics as regular websites:

YY Bright / bold colours


YY Large, easy to read fonts
YY A clean uncluttered interface

London Demographics map

47
2. MAKING MAPS THAT
DON’T TELL A STORY
Once again to push back against the limited attention span of web surfers,
your map needs to get straight to the point.

You need to produce focused maps that try to convey a single message
in a clear and concise manner. You need need to follow the advice of
Steve Krug’s classic 2005 book “Don’t Make Me Think”. If the message
contained in your map isn’t loud and clear your web map will experience
a high abandonment rate.

Could a Fukushima link Nuclear Accident Happen in the United States?

48
3. CREATING WEB MAP
PORTALS THAT CONTAIN
TOO MANY DATASETS
This point follows on from the last. The opposite of the “map story” is the
map portal. A web map portal tries to cram as many datasets as possible
into a single web map. This may be the easiest way to publish your data,
but it is far from the best user experience and most users simply won’t
have the patience to explore all of the layers presented.

Your users will be better server by a web portal that contains a separate
page for each dataset with a link to a story map that best showcases the
usage of that specific dataset. Individual pages will also make it much
easier for your users to discover the datasets via a search engine.

London Demographics Portal

49
4. MAKING YOUR WEB MAP
LOOK LIKE A DESKTOP GIS
“The most common mistake in design is to assume that the
users of your design see the world in the same way as you.”

Most users of your map will have never used desktop GIS software and
their interactions with digital maps will most likely have been with Google
Maps. They will expect the same level of simplicity in your web map
application.

Try to avoid:

YY Big legends with many layers that can be turned on and off
YY Mouse navigation that differs from Google Maps
YY Not having a clear map title or description
YY Complex toolbars full of non-essential tools

A parcel lookup map should be laser focused to deliver answers without any unnecessary clutter.

50
5. IF IN DOUBT, TAKE IT OUT
In short, you should strive to make your application as simple as possible
in order to improve usability. You should strive to remove features from
your web map, rather than add them—and the more you can remove the
better.

It’s time for that measuring tool and overview map to get the chop!
Does your thematic map of U.S state poverty rates really need a search
function?

If a feature doesn’t in some way help to convey the story of your map
then it has no place being there and should be removed. The same goes
for map layers, if a layer isn’t adding something to the narrative of your
map story then it needs to go. Also remember to remove any attributes
from your identify popup windows that aren’t related to the theme of the
map, they are nothing but a distraction.

SUMMARY
Web mapping isn’t a new paradigm it’s simply a new medium; a medium
that’s very easy to transfer your existing map making skills to—provided
you remember that when it comes to the world of the web:

less is always more.

51
Best Practice #4:

5 THINGS GIS PROS


SHOULD CONSIDER
WHEN BUILDING
A WEB GIS
Web GIS applications are becoming an ever more common requirement
in GIS projects and as GIS professionals we are often being taken out
of our comfort zone when it comes to developing and deploying these
online systems.

Tools like Mango are removing most of the pain from web mapping by
allowing applications to be built without writing any code or managing
any servers, but there are still some important considerations to be made
when moving our maps from the desktop to the web. Below are some of
the most important.

1. MOST WEB MAP USERS DON’T


KNOW WHAT A GIS IS
“The most common mistake in design is to assume
that the users of your design see the world in the same
way as you.”

In most cases the vast majority of web map users won’t even know what
a GIS is, never mind know how to operate one. This is actually the great
attraction of web maps, it gives us the opportunity to put the power of
GIS in the hands of a much larger audience, but at the same time we
need to consider how to serve up that power and insight in a format that
is user friendly, accessible and intuitive.

The majority of web map deployments are overseen by someone with a


background in GIS, therefore it’s not surprising that the interface of many

52
web maps look quite a lot like that of a desktop GIS, this is something
we should aim to avoid. What users are familiar with is Google maps, so
when making your web map, your are aiming for this:

Not this:

53
Google Maps is really a different beast to what we are producing in terms
of web maps as GIS professionals, but we should certainly take inspiration
from its simplicity and accessibility.

“Any intelligent fool can make


things bigger, more complex, and
more violent. It takes a touch of
genius — and a lot of courage to
move in the opposite direction.”

— E.F. SCHUMACHER

2. LESS IS ALWAYS MORE & THE


KISS PRINCIPLE
The most common mistake we as GIS professionals make when creating
web maps is to try an make a single map do too much. This means it’s
either conveying too much information or is drowning the user in tools
and buttons. Web users don’t have the patience for a learning curve, they
will just hit the back button the second they feel overwhelmed.

In short, you should strive to


make your web map as simple
as possible in order to improve
usability. You should strive to
remove features from your
web map rather than add them
and the more you can remove
the better. It’s time for that
measuring tool and overview
map to get the chop! Does
your thematic map of U.S state
poverty rates really need a
search function?

54
If a feature doesn’t in some way help to convey the story of your map
then it has no place being there and should be removed. The same goes
for map layers, if a layer isn’t adding something to the narrative of your
map story then it needs to go. Also remember to remove any attributes
from your identify popup windows that aren’t related to the theme of the
map, they are nothing but a distraction.

3. DON’T MAKE YOUR USERS THINK


If we look at the evolution of the map it went from hand drawn, to print,
to digital and now to the web, with each iteration in this evolution the
attention span of the audience has decreased.

A web map is now vying for the


attention of its users in a sea of content
and online distractions.

When a visitor sees our map for the


first time we have a matter of seconds
to convince their conscious and un-
conscious mind that there’s something
here worth seeing, otherwise the user
will be reaching for the back button.

This means that the user shouldn’t be


left guessing what the map is about.
The map should have a clear title, a
simple clear legend and an obvious
message or narrative. It’s better to
make a series of small, simple, laser
focussed maps than it is to try and
make a single map that tries to do it all.

4. WEB MAPS NEED TO BE


OPTIMIZED FOR SEARCH ENGINES
For most users the gateway to your web map will be Google. Search
engines are the maps of the internet, without them we are completely lost
and unless we please the Google gods we will never be given a prominent
position. On this metaphorical map we need to ensure our web map is a
capital city, with a prominent symbol and large typeface. We definitely

55
don’t want to be a small village with a tiny symbol and a label that can
only be made out by those with the keenest of eyesight.

Google uses the text on the page to figure out what the map is about
and include it in the results for relevant search queries. If you followed
the rules in the previous section about making it clear for users what
the map is about, then is will be clear also for search engines by default.

5. WEB MAPS NEED TO BE


OPTIMIZED FOR SPEED
When making maps on the desktop we rarely need to think about speed,
all of our data is on the same machine or network as the client. With web
maps we don’t have this luxury, the data we display on the map needs
to be downloaded from the server to the web browser.

Rather than using vector data (that contains the raw geometry) the de
facto standard in web mapping is render the map layers as a bitmap
image and send them to the web browser as tiles.

The average web map tile is around 60KB, it doesn’t matter how many
layers it contains the size will remain around the same. So it doesn’t
matter whether a single tile set contains one layer or twenty, it will still
have the same size and take the same time to load.

In a desktop GIS we are able to turn all of the individual layers on and off.
In web map we can do the same, but each layer or group of layers that
we allow to be turned on or off in the legend is a new tile set, with each
tile set stacked on top of the other.

Every additional layer that we add as an individual tile set will double

56
the number of tiles that need to be downloaded. Therefore the larger
the number of tile sets on a single map, the slower the map will become.

In order to keep your maps fast it’s best to use as few tile sets (called
layer groups in Mango) as possible.

For example this would be slow:

uu Layer group 1: roads


uu Layer group 2: rivers
uu Layer group 3: cities
uu Layer group 4: hospitals
uu Layer group 5: GDP by county
uu Layer group 6: Employment rate by county

If we put all of this in just two layer groups, it will load much faster:

uu Layer group 1: Employment rate by county (off by default)


uu Layer group 2: roads, rivers, cities, hospitals
uu Layer group 3: GDP by county

In the first example the browser needs to load six tilesets when it loads.
In the second example it only has to load two and the user has the option
to also later turn on the Employment rate by county. By putting the
employment layer on top, it will draw over the other layers when the user
comes to turn it on, aiding discoverability and usability.

A web map server should also use caching so that the map image only
needs to be rendered by the web map server once, on subsequent
requests it just fetches the previously rendered map tiles from the file
system which is much faster. Mango uses multiple levels of caching and
as a result a map becomes faster once it’s in active use because the
caches have been warmed up.

SUMMARY
As you can see when it comes to web mapping there are many factors
that need careful consideration above and beyond what we are used
to when creating maps on the desktop, but with a little planning and a
focus on speed and simplicity these challenges can easily be overcome.

57
Integrating with Mango
Mango fits seamlessly into your existing
workflows and processes.

58
INTEGRATING WITH
YOUR DESKTOP GIS
Desktop or server-based GIS are commonly
used by local government to store, manage,
and analyze geospatial data. However, they
provided limited scope for sharing maps
within the organization or the public.

This is the strength of an Online GIS.

59
The goal here is not to completely replace desktop GIS, but to leverage the
strengths of each system to bring maximum benefit to an organization
and the public it serves.

One of the main considerations is how to ensure that updated data


stored in a Desktop GIS is also available in your Online GIS. Having your
colleagues or the public take decisions based on outdated information
could lead to costly mistakes. Having up to date information at all times
is crucial to the function of your organization.

Mango takes the pain out of synchronizing your offline GIS data with your
online maps and data with a couple of easy to configure tools.

Data Re-upload
The first method, “Data re-upload” is a manual process suitable to sit-
uations where data changes infrequently and you want to have full
oversight of the update process. For example, if you have quarterly or
annual updates to apply, then this tool is perfect for that process.

By simply locating to your dataset in Mango, you can click the Re-upload
button, browse to your data and select the new files. Once the upload
is complete, your maps will automatically update with the new version
of the data.

We have inbuilt validation tools to ensure the integrity of your data in


Mango to ensure that nothing goes wrong in the re-upload process, thus
giving your peace of mind when applying important updates. The main
benefits of this tool are:

YY Update your background data without having to touch your


web maps
YY Automated checks and validation during the re-upload process
YY Save time when applying data updates to your Online GIS

60

 →
 →
Automated Data Sync
Imagine — you work on your data in your desktop GIS, and magically, your
web maps just.. update. Why work harder when you can work smarter?

Synchronizing your offline GIS data with your Online maps is a key
challenge to address when choosing and setting up an Online GIS. Yet
most solutions out there cost an arm and a leg and normally require an
enterprise database and enterprise GIS on top of it, both of which are
complicated to setup and costly setup and to maintain.

That’s where our Data Sync tool comes into the picture.

This tool is suitable in cases where the data is updated frequently and
the manual re-upload would become too time-consuming.

Data Sync lets you do complex work on datasets in your desktop GIS or
spreadsheet application, and have changes updated on your web maps,
without even logging into Mango.

After an initial data upload, simply point to a Dropbox folder containing that
data and link it to Mango. Any changes to the data stored in Dropbox will
automatically upload to Mango and update on any maps using that data.

This tool is a great time saver and gives you peace of mind that your
users are always seeing the most up-to-date information in your maps.
The main benefits of the tool are:

YY Does not require a complicated back-end database to ensure


data sync
YY Does not require expensive server software
YY Very easy to setup and administer
YY Automated notifications if issues are encountered
YY Never have to worry about whether your Online GIS maps are
out of date


 → →

61
Best of all, your core data need not be stored in Dropbox; you can simply
copy and paste new files to that folder, or write a script to export from
your spatial database of choice to the Dropbox folder.

These two tools provide a way to update your data from a desktop/server
environment to an online environment.

Of course, you can also go the other way; if you are editing or updating
data in Mango, you can download that data in a spatial format and use
in your offline environment. This gives you full access to your data to use
it in your chosen Desktop GIS.

Additionally, Mango offers a number of possibilities to integrate your


information stored in an external database such as a property deed or
tax information with your online maps.

62
INTEGRATE MANGO
WITH INFORMATION
STORED IN A CMS
Mango offers useful ways to
integrate your information
stored in an external content
management system or database.

Here are some ways


you can set it up.

63
LINK FROM MANGO TO
RECORDS, FILES, OR IMAGES
STORED IN ONLINE CONTENT
MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS
If you have documents, such as title deeds, photos or inspection reports
stored in an online document management system, you can link these
to features in a map in Mango. In the example below, three URLs are
available to the user to access information about a property.

64
Using the Mango custom popup tool you can build custom URL’s that
include values from the selected feature. For example, if in our dataset
we have a column called ID that contains the unique identifier for a
deed, we can build a URL from within the Mango custom popup tool that
links to our deed document in the following format:

https://orange-county.com/deeds?id={ID}

The {ID} component of the URL will be replaced by the ID of the


feature clicked by the user, e.g:

https://orange-county.com/deeds?id=019865

When clicked, the user will be taken to the specific deed in the County’s
external deed management system with that URL.

65
LINK FROM A RECORD IN A
CONTENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
TO A FEATURE ON YOUR MAP
In this scenario, we have some form of existing content or records man-
agement system and we would like records in that system to have a
clickable link that when clicked opens your map then zooms to the feature,
highlights it and opens the attribute popup.

To achieve this the first step is to upload our GIS data to Mango and
retrieve the URL template for that layer as shown below.

Then in your content management system you can insert the relevant
variables into the URL template in order to make a URL that links to that
feature in Mango. For example, we change:

mangomap.com/orange-county/maps/49891?field={field-name}&value={field-value}

to

mangomap.com/orange-county/maps/49891?field=pin&value=9799028061.212

Where pin is the name of the attribute (or column in a spreadsheet or


database) and 9799028061.212 is the value of the PIN column for the
record we want to open in Mango.

66
qq Tip: You will likely need to ask your web
developer to create the links in this
format in your content management system.

Clicking the link in your content management system will then open a web
browser and take you to that record in Mango, highlighting the feature
and showing information in a popup, as shown in the example map below.

We can also offer the reverse path - using the PIN value, we can also create
links that take users directly from the parcel map to the register of deeds.

67
Increasing Visibility &
Tracking User Statistics

68
INCREASE THE
VISIBILITY OF
YOUR WEB MAP
Never before has it been so
important to work hard on
improving the accessibility
of your web application.

69
With over five hundred
million active websites
online, your shiny new
web map is fighting for
attention in a huge ocean
of content.

As mapmakers, it’s all too


easy to spend too much
time focusing on cartog-
raphy and tools and forget
that both are useless if
our target audience can’t
find or access our map in
the first place.

In this chapter we’ll look at the four most important tips that will increase
the visibility and accessibility of your web map.

1. MAKE YOUR MAPS SEARCH


ENGINE FRIENDLY
Search engines are the maps of the internet. Without them, we are com-
pletely lost, and unless we please the Google gods, we will never be given
a prominent position. On this metaphorical map we need to ensure our
web map is a capital city, with a prominent symbol and large typeface.
We definitely don’t want to be a small village with a tiny symbol and a
label that can only be made out by those with the keenest of eyesight.

70
So how do we get noticed by search engines? Firstly they need to know
we exist, secondly they need to know what we are about and lastly they
need to be given reason to think that we are important.

INDEXING

To be included in search engine results our site needs to be indexed.


Indexing is carried out in one of two ways: the first is by programs known
as “spiders”, these spiders crawl the web following links from one page
to another. When they discover a web page that hasn’t previously been
indexed, they send the content back to the search engine so that it can be
listed. This means in order to get discovered in this way, another website
or webpage that has already been indexed must have a link that directs
to your web map.

The second way to get indexed is using something called a sitemap. A


sitemap is submitted to Google and other search engines and basically
says “here are a list of pages I would like you to go index”. Luckily for users
of Mango, we automatically submit a sitemap of all your public maps to
Google for you, so your maps will be included automatically.

PLACEMENT

Once Google knows that your web map exists it


needs to figure out which search engine results
page (SERPs) to place it.

It does this by analysing the text on the web page to


try and figure out what the page is about. It places
more importance on words and phrases (known
as keywords in the search engine world) that are
used in the URL, the page title, and any text that is
using HTML header tags (H1, H2, H3 etc) or is more
prominent on the page.

If your map is about national parks in Texas, you want to make sure
that the works “Texas”, “national” and “park” are featured prominently
on your page so that the search engines know they are important. This
means making sure they are included in the page URL, in the page title
(contained in the <title> HTML tag in the page header), and that
they are used in the most prominent text on the page—which should be
the map title—preferably using <h1> HTML tags.

71
It’s also helpful to have the words in other sections of the page, but try
not to go overboard and use the keywords in an unnatural way. Google
and other search engines are very smart and know when people are trying
to game the system, and will actually penalize your page if it thinks you
are excessively loading the page with keywords.

Maps, by their visual nature, tend not to have a lot of plain text that can be
read by search engines. Remember, search engines can’t see the text
in images, so can’t use the labels or other layers displayed on your map.

This means that as mapmakers, we need make the most of the few areas
of text that we do have. We need to pay careful attention to the names
we give our maps, the names we give our layers in the legend, and make
the most out of any other places where we can place text, such as layer
descriptions or map landing pages.

The best strategy is to pretend the search engine is a human visitor


who knows nothing about you, or your project, and can’t see any of the
images on the page.

Ask yourself whether a new user to this page is given a clear and concise
description of what the map is about and what it contains. If the answer
is yes, it’s safe to assume that Google will index it correctly.

Once again, users of Mango don’t need to overly concern themselves


with this. We automatically insert the map name in the URL, the page’s
<title> HTML tag, and use the correct HTML tags to let the search
engines know which text is important. We also give you plenty of places
where you can add additional text such as the map description, layer
descriptions, as well landing popups for the map.

RANKING

So now Google knows that your site exists and hopefully it has a good idea
what your site is about we can start thinking about pagerank. Pagerank
is the position that your web page appears in the search engine results
(SERPs) for a given search phrase, e.g.: “map of Texas national parks”.
Obviously in order to increase discoverability we want to appear as close
to the top of those results as possible.

Google places pages that it thinks are important for a given keyphrase
at the top, so how does it decide what pages are important?

72
Firstly, it wants to see that the given search phrase is featured prominently
on the page (as discussed in the previous section), but more importantly
it wants outside sources to confirm that the content is important for a
given search phrase. It does this by analysing the outside web pages
that link to your page.

Websites that link to your page that rank well for your particular phrase
and that have a high search rank themselves are the most valuable. For
example if we want to rank well for “map of Texas national parks”, having
the National Parks Service (www.nps.gov) link to our map would be
very beneficial.

So you might be wondering what is the best


way to get other sites to link to our map page?
The answer is simple: build a fantastic map
that people want to share!

In search engine optimization, content is


king. If you build a great web map, people will
naturally want to share it either by linking to
it from their site or blog, or sharing it across
social networks, all of which will help your web
map climb up the search engine rankings.

73
2. MAKE IT EASY FOR USERS
TO SHARE YOUR MAP
In the previous section we learned
how important it is for your map
to feature prominently on search
engines if you want to ensure vis-
ibility and increase the number of
people who can benefit from your
map. We also learned that most
important way to achieve that is
by having people link to your map
and share it across social networks.

This is why you should strive to make it as easy as possible for users to
share your maps. You should enable users to share the map across social
networks with a single click and provide snippets of code that can be
used to easily embed the map in web pages, blogs or emails.

These sharing tools shouldn’t be hidden away, instead they should be


very visible and their use strongly encouraged.

In Mango we have a social


sharing bar displayed
by default on all maps
which allows the map
to be shared on Twitter,
Facebook or LinkedIn with
a single click. You can
easily add social sharing
buttons to your web map
using free and simple
tools such as AddThis or
Shareaholic.

74
3. DON’T EVER, EVER, USE
FLASH, JAVA, OR SILVERLIGHT
If you value visibility and accessibility the use of Flash, Java or Silverlight
is the worst technology choice possible. These technologies are browser
plugins and have nowhere near complete adoption. If you choose to use
a technology that’s based on a browser plugin, you will effectively be
closing the door on more than 30% of your potential visitors.

I just checked the site analytics for Mango. The site receives tens of
thousands of visitors per month and of those visitors 22% didn’t have Flash
support, 25% didn’t have Java, and a massive 68% didn’t have Silverlight.

In fact, Adobe has sunsetted Flash - it is no longer under active devel-


opment, and isn't supported. Its obsolete.

Flash and Silverlight for webmaps: Just say NO!

Flash and Silverlight also aren’t supported on mobile by either Android


or iOS, which brings us nicely onto our next tip.

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4. MAKE YOUR WEB
MAPS MOBILE READY
With over 60% of global internet traffic now coming from mobile devices
your web map needs to go mobile or go home. Never has mobile support
been so important to the accessibility of your web mapping application
and offering mobile support is no longer a novelty, it’s a necessity.

Business applications often ignore mobile at their peril. They believe


that business is still done on the desktop, and mobile can be put on the
back burner.

This is very shortsighted.

Mango for example, primarily caters to business users and I can confirm
from our own logs that over 25% of the traffic to the maps published on
our platform came from mobile alone, up from just 20% last quarter.

Not only do you need to “support” mobile, you need to make it a first class
citizen and ensure that the experience for the user is equally as rich and
engaging as it is on the browser. Users will no longer stand for a stripped
down “lite” version of your web map application on mobile, they want the
full sugar, full caffeine version in the palm of their hand, 24 hours a day,
from anywhere in the world.

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“I would highly recommend Mango
to anyone in local government,
as it can become such an asset
to your staff and community.”

—GRAHAM SCOTT, GIS COORDINATOR/TECHNICIAN,


TOWN OF STETTLER, ALBERTA, CANADA

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WEBMAP ANALYTICS
You created your shiny new fully
featured web map, and now you
are wondering how much impact
is it having. Rather than relying on
user feedback, wouldn't it be nice
to know to have comprehensive
and actionable data?

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If something can’t be measured, then it can’t be improved. In this chapter,
I'm going to show you how you can use analytics systems to answer
questions that gauge the success of your web maps.

Questions such as:

YY “How many people are viewing my map?”


YY “How long are they using the map for?”
YY “Where are the map visitors located?”
YY “Where in the map are the viewing most frequently?”

These questions and many more can be answered using third party
analytics platforms. After reading this chapter your will be up to speed
on the two leading options when it comes to tracking your web maps.
Google Analytics (free) and Maptiks (paid).

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GOOGLE ANALYTICS
Google Analytics is a massively popular analytics tool on the web, and
is the default choice for all web designers. It is currently used to collect
traffic data for over 50% of all websites on the internet.

Google Analytics is a free tool and is simple to use. All you need to begin
is insert a small snippet of tracking code on each page of your website,
or in our case on each map.

Once installed you will begin seeing data in near real time and can view
aggregate data for any period of time across all maps, or individual maps.

Google analytics dashboard for viewing map analytics

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The key metrics tracked using
Google Analytics are:

USERS SESSION DURATION

This is the total number of unique This is the average time that users
visitor to your site. When users spent on the site/maps. This
visit, Google places a cookie in metric is much more important for
their browser, so next time they web mapping than bounce rate. A
come they can detect if they are high average time on site would
a new or returning visitor. indicate that users find your map
useful and stick around to use lots
of features.
SESSIONS
In addition to these key metrics
The is the total number of times there are dozens of other data
your site was visited and inter- points that can be viewed, such as
acted with. This number is usually the user's location, which device
larger than users, as a single user they are using to access the map
might have had multiple sessions and which website the user came
during the time period you are from before viewing your map(s).
reviewing.
This data is often actionable and
can be used to assess the impact
BOUNCE RATE of any changes or updates you
have made. For example, an
A bounce is when a user visits a increase in average session
single page your website (or map duration would indicate that your
portal in this case) and leaves maps are becoming more useful,
without visiting another page. For or an increase in the number
normal websites, a high bounce of visitors could indicate that
rate can indicate that the user marketing efforts are bearing fruit.
hasn't found what they are looking
for.

This metric is less relevant to maps


as the map is a single page, and
whilst using that single page the
user can perform lots of different
actions.

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MAPTIKS
Maptiks is similar to Google Analytics and offers many of the same data
points, but unlike Google Analytics, Maptiks was designed specifically for
web maps and gives you access to some map specific metrics.

The Maptiks dashboard

The key metrics tracked


using Maptiks include:
PANS & ZOOMS

This allows you to see how active the user was on the map. A high number
of pans and zooms indicated high levels of engagement.

LAYERS

See how many individual layers the user viewed during the session.

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ACTIVITY

The number of clicks and queries the average user made during their
session.

ACTIVITY HEAT MAP

See the areas on your map which had the most activity (pans, zooms,
clicks). This will allow you to quickly build a picture of the areas within
your map that are of most use to your users.

DEEPER INSIGHTS
Unlike Google Analytics, Maptiks is a paid service with plans starting from

$39 per month, but it offers real insights into both how and where your
users are interacting with your maps.
Usage heatmap lets you analyze where users are viewing and interacting with your maps.

If you are investing heavily in your web mapping system, it's a sensible
investment as it will give you a much clear picture of how your maps are
performing and how they are being used.

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The #1 Web GIS Choice
for Local Government
Mango is about making the complex simple
and transforming your data into answers for
your community. To help you understand
why Mango is the right choice for your local
government’s online map deployments, here’s
a run down of where Mango leads the way.

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MANGO VS.
ArcGIS ONLINE
Hundreds of organizations have chosen Mango over ArcGIS Online for
their web mapping requirements and the reason is simplicity.

Mango is easier for you, easier for your accountant and most importantly
of all it's easier for your users. Mango offers you the following benefits:

(( AFFORDABLE PRICING, NO CONFUSING SERVICE CREDITS


With prices that are super competitive, set in stone, and very easy
to understand, you’ll always know exactly how much your web map
deployments will cost.

(( RESPONSIVE AND PERSONALIZED CUSTOMER SUPPORT


As a Mango customer you will be assigned an account manager with
the experience and authority required to overcome any obstacles
quickly and easily.

(( ADDITIONAL ACCOUNT USERS WON'T BREAK THE BANK


No need to purchase a license for every person you want to share
a private map with. With Mango you can password protect maps or
invite unlimited private users.

(( UNLIMITED NUMBER OF FEATURES IN A DATASET


Unlike ArcGIS Online, Mango has no feature limits in a dataset. It's
as simple as uploading the data and styling it. No building tilesets
or other complicated steps.

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MANGO VS. ArcGIS
ENTERPRISE (SERVER)
With a full server setup with ArcGIS Enterprise priced around $30,000, it’s
not for everyone. Consider additional management and security issues
with on-site servers, Mango can offer the following advantages for small
and medium GIS offices:

(( WE GET UP IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT SO YOU DON’T HAVE TO

Anyone that’s worked in IT knows that it’s a fact of life that sometimes
servers will fail. A hard disk might stop functioning, backup power might
fail causing a hard shutdown or your ISP has a meltdown. And you can
guarantee that the server will choose the worst possible time to fail. With
Mango you can fully enjoy your summer vacation or Christmas lunch,
with the peace of mind that we are monitoring the servers so that you
don’t have to.

(( FIXED COSTS

Hosting your own server is like owning your own car, it needs regular
maintenance and will likely throw up some expensive surprises from time
to time. Mango’s pricing is fixed, meaning you know exactly how much
your web mapping system will cost and can budget accordingly.

(( NO CODING

All of Mango’s features can be configured and deployed in just a few


clicks. Even complex spatial analysis and query tools can be setup in
just minutes.

(( FULLY MANAGED CLOUD STORAGE AND COMPUTING

With Mango, you don’t need to lift a finger to keep your web maps online.
That’s our business, and we take care of the secure, reliable, and fast web
map hosting for you, meaning fewer late nights updating and maintaining
servers, and more time to do what counts.

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MANGO VS. DIY
There’s few things as satisfying as rolling your own web maps. Bespoke
webmaping is an art in itself; assembling the many elements and coding
them into a hyper-focused web map deployment. But it requires certain
luxuries we don’t all possess - coding skills across a range of program-
ming languages, knowledge of the full stack of libraries, and not least
significant time it takes to put together a coherent and comprehensive
web map application.

For those that aren’t full stack map spinners, Mango let’s you build and
deploy incredible interactive web maps, in minutes.

(( COMPREHENSIVE SECURITY AND USER MANAGEMENT

Unlimited add-on named users, and robust user and group access policies
that provide granular security access controls for internal and external
users.

(( NO CODING. EVER.

All Mango features are configured via an easy to use GUI. Database
queries, spatial analysis, print tools - all can be deployed in minutes with
a few clicks.

(( ALWAYS UP TO DATE

Bespoke web maps look and work great - until something breaks. Libraries
update, code corrupts, servers go down. Mango is a fully managed
platform that is kept in tune, up to date, and monitored 24/7. We do the
heavy lifting so you can spend more time doing what matters to your
community.

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Ready to get started?
Dive straight into GIS web mapping with a 30-day free
trial of Enterprise plan on Mango.
Sign up at www.mangomap.com/sign-up

Questions?
If you have questions about Mango, we’d love to talk!
You can request a demo from one of our amazing
team members. Just click the link below to book an
appointment, and we will be in touch!
Talk to you soon.

Book an appointment at www.mangomap.com/contact

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The Simple Online GIS
Make Amazing Interactive Web Maps That You and Your Users Will Love!

©2017 MangoMap LIMITED

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